Sumac have released the title track for their upcoming studio album May You Be Held, which will be released on October 2 via Thrill Jockey Records. The upcoming project is set to have cassette, CD and special gold and clear colored vinyl releases, the latter of which are already sold out on the group’s Bandcamp.
“May You Be held” is an epic 20-minute long song that explores many post-metal soundscapes, with punishing drums, hard hitting bass and aggressive guitar shredding, that have some melodic moments. The vocals on this song are as harsh as ever, with dark growls and screams taking over the track.
The album is reportedly about the social upheaval going on across the world, which the band’s guitarist and vocalist Aaron Turner says is “a pivotal stage in the story of humankind.” Turner explains that this type of upheaval, and its subsequent uncertainty made the album’s sound “feel right.”
“As an artist in this time of significant upheaval, society seemingly having reached the end of its current iteration, it’s of critical importance to absorb and interpret this process of dissolution – and of the transformation that hopefully follows it,” Turner explained. “While I don’t believe we’re on the brink of collective destruction precisely now, this is clearly a pivotal stage in the story of humankind – and there is something that feels right about this music at this exact and very uncertain moment.”
This latest song follows the previously release “The Iron Chair,” an eight-minute song with similar post-metal sounds and signature aggression. Turner released two solo projects last year; Interminable Conniption and Repression’s Bloom.
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